Q. Are there any dangers of using the Neti Pot? I read somewhere of a couple of deaths by using contaminated water in the pot?

A. You seem to be referring to a warning report issued by the Louisiana State health Department, suggesting the possibility of bacteria in infected water reaching the brain through the neti pot.
In our personal yet sincere opinion, this surmise is flawed & should have been more about the water than about the practice of neti.
For one, water used in the neti pot is warm & saline. A saline environment renders many bacteria ineffective.
Second, reportedly the water in nasal passages can reach the brain only if squirted under pressure. Neti is a purely gentle, gravity flow procedure, so there is no squirting or pressure involved.
Third, there seems to be no conclusive evidence or even attempt to verify whether the casualties may have occurred as a result of a swim or simply a shower in the infected water or any other activity. The correlation to & highlighting of neti as opposed to a whole gamut of other activities seems hurried and strange.
Finally, neti is a practice that has existed for hundreds (if not thousands) of years in oriental countries where the quality of water can be quite pathetic, to say the least. To this date, no such reports of deaths have even been suggested worldwide.
Needless to say, it is always a wise practice to use sterilized or pre-boiled water as an abundant precaution. Our reply is merely trying to put the fear in right perspective.
And.. you may also like to avoid those squirt bottles that ‘force’ water. Simply stick to the gentle gravity flow of neti.